my car has the case of the "stops making the strange ticking sound when i take it to the mechanics" so i thought i'd present my problem to all you JK gurus.

i installed a 2.5" lift with 5.13 gearing the week of thanksgiving. i picked up my car on Wednesday and on my drive home i started to hear a strange ticking sound from under my carriage. The best way i can describe it is that it sounds like the spinning wheel from Wheel of Fortune, but has a much higher pitch (e.g. ticking, not clacking) and is much faster. i've read posts that talk about how people hear a clicking sound when accelerating, but my issue was that the sound would only appear when i took my foot off the accelerator. as soon as i applied some gas, the sound went away. the sound was audible at all speeds and the ticking would slow as my car would slow. I took it in on Friday but by then the sound had gone away.

Just recently, I had the same sound appear, but this time only when i put my car into 1st gear (auto transmission). as soon as i shifted out of 1st, the sound would go away. after another couple days, the sound disappeared completely. i'm worried that even though the ticking is gone, there's still a problem that needs to be addressed.

FYI - i also have a slow, pulsing vibration when i'm going around 65 mph (sounds/feels like the car next to me has a subwoofer and has the volume turned up). I was told that this is probably just harmonics from my new tires. not sure if these 2 issues are related.

Please help! Thanks in advance!

 

hey JK-alifornia, welcome to JK-Forum! regarding your ticking sound, do you still have factory drive shafts? if so, check your front drive shaft as i'd be willing to bet that the metal clamp securing the spline shaft boot in place has come off and/or is missing altogether now. as it was coming off, that would have explained a lot of your ticking. as far as your pulsing vibration goes, sounds to me like your front drive shafts is out of balance. with stock gears, it wouldn't be as noticable but with 5.13's, it would get amplified and become very noticable.

oh, and last but not least, you drive a "jeep" - NOT a "car"

 

I have the same sound. Will check a bit later. How serious is this to fix? Can you still drive without it? I mean the ticking sound

 

if it is the clamp or your boot torn, it's not that big a deal at all. the boot just keeps grease inside and things like water out. once compromised, your drive shaft will most likely start squeaking but that's about it.

 

Ask for a guru and get a guru! Thanks for the advice and the well needed correction ("Jeep"). Hopefully, the "newbie" title next to my name gives me a "get of jail free" pass on the slip-up! i'll definitely be looking into the metal clamp and front drive shaft and will update as soon as possible. Thanks, again!

 

It looks like the spline shaft boot on both the front and rear driveshafts are there and the metal clamps seem to be okay also.

I haven't had a chance to check if my front driveshaft is unbalanced.

Any other ideas?

 

Here is my 2 cents. Not long after I installed my lift, I started having ticking noises. I searched and searched, and finally figured out it was my rear drive shaft. The pinion angle was just too much, and eventually screwed up the shaft. I ordered a new shaft from Tatton's ($425 shipped to my door). Once that was installed, I experienced some slight vibrations at around 45 mph. I invested in some adjustable rear upper control arms......problem solved!

 

Stop calling you're Jeep a car!!!! and the sound should go away.....

 

I have had u joints that do that when going bad. Does it only do it on decelleration? Or does it do it going into reverse. Do you hear a slight clunk when putting it in gear? When the one in my truck ( ford) failed it was doing that for months it got progressivly worse as time went on, it had seized on the bearings so I had no signs of play but got vibrations for months. Eventually it stated clunking and then I could find witch one went bad. My .02 c

 

I was told that the pinion angle isn't much of an issue with a 2.5" lift. is that not true? how much did you lift your jeep?